


not like you

by a_gay_poster



Category: Naruto
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Prompt Fill, You can pry devoted househusband Shikamaru from my cold dead hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-14
Updated: 2019-03-14
Packaged: 2019-11-17 19:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18105035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_gay_poster/pseuds/a_gay_poster
Summary: Prompt: "You haven't been yourself lately."Lee's been hiding something, and Gaara intends to find out what it is.





	not like you

Gaara corners Lee while he’s doing pushups in the living room of the Kazekage manor. There’s a thick book under him, with a pink cover, and he’s mouthing the words as he reads.

“What are you reading?” Gaara asks from the doorway.

Lee drops to the ground and flattens himself over the book. 

“Oh, Gaara!” he shouts. “Are you already back from the market?”

“I sent an aide to do the shopping.”

“That’s really not their job.”

Gaara stalks into the room, his long coat licking at his heels. He comes to a stop where Lee is still splayed across the floor.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Oh, this?” Lee waves his arms in an unconvincing imitation of a starfish. “It’s a new stretch I’m trying out! Really strengthens your core and limbers up your extremities.”

Gaara’s mouth tenses into a line.

“You only did 53 pushups. I counted. You _never_ stop at just 53.”

“Well, why didn’t you say you were there earlier? I didn’t even notice you lurking in the hallway.”

“You’re deflecting,” Gaara accuses him.

“Well, you’re being cryptic.” 

“Because you haven’t been acting like yourself lately,” Gaara says, folding his legs to sit beside Lee’s prone form.

“Whatever do you mean by that?” says Lee, still face-down on the tatami mats.

“For starters, there’s this. Whatever’s in that book that you’re trying to hide from me.”

“I’m stretching,” Lee protests.

“And you’ve been in Konoha more often than usual, and staying for longer too.”

“Tenten just got a new genin team and I was giving them taijutsu demos!”

“And the last time I went to your apartment there, you had locks on all the cabinets and cushions on the corners of the table.”

“... Some of Tenten’s genin are very clumsy?” 

“And then when you came back, your pack was heavier than normal.”

“Why were you picking up my pack?” Lee interjects.

Gaara ignores him.

“And when I went through it, I found this.” From behind his back, Gaara pulls out a stuffed turtle. 

“Okay, first of all, that’s an invasion of privacy. And second of all, give back Ningaame-chan, please.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” Gaara says. 

Lee splutters, his face turning red.

“Are you … thinking of opening a summoning pact? That’s the only thing I could think of.” Gaara’s brow wrinkles. It does all add up: the turtles, the books, the visits to Konoha. The furniture stuff is still a little bit weird, but maybe turtles get into things. “It’s going to be difficult, with your inability to mold chakra, but I suppose it’s not impossible. And I don’t understand why you’re being so cagey about it. Are you worried you’ll fail?”

“No, I- “ Lee sighs and rolls over until he’s sitting up facing Gaara. Gaara glances down at the book laying on the floor, but the open pages are smeared with sweat and illegible. “I was waiting for the right time to tell you.”

“Spit it out,” Gaara says.

“Right, well, you remember my cousin Jazz?”

Gaara has met a great many Lees over the years, mostly due to them coming to Lee to ask for money, or for favors due to his relationship with the various Kages. Lee normally gives them the former - he’s far too generous, in Gaara’s estimation, and despite how poorly his family has treated him, still seems to feel some sense of obligation towards them (a matter which has been a source of much contention over the course of their relationship) - and gently refuses the latter. For the most part, the members of the Lee clan look identical: thick eyebrows, large eyes, small serious mouths, and a braid of thick black hair. The only one Gaara remembers with any clarity is Punk Lee, and only because he attempted to fist bump Gaara and called him ‘the sick-ass Kazekage dude’.

“No,” Gaara admits. 

“Really? She’s about yea tall, really great bone structure, straight teeth- “

Gaara makes a hand gesture that conveys Lee should get on with it.

“Anyway, she’s pregnant, and she has the same disability I do.”

“Why does that matter?” Gaara asks, eyes narrowing. “You’re the only person with your condition in your family who became a shinobi, you told me that.”

“She _could_ have been a shinobi, honestly. She’s really strong, you should see her lift the rocks at the quarry. But she can’t do that anymore, so I’ve been coming by and helping her out.”

“Why can your clan not help her?”

“So, that’s the other problem. She’s not married, and she doesn’t know who the father is, so she has to keep it a secret.”

“Your clan is not accepting of single mothers. I remember this; your own mother was unwed.”

“Right, exactly. So she only has me to rely on! And I’m really thankful that she reached out to me, honestly, she really needed the help, and this was something I was happy to do for her.”

Gaara gestures for Lee to continue. 

“And then she told me, she really wants her kid to become a shinobi. Which, if he gets his mother’s genes, will be really difficult.”

“Your clan wouldn’t accept that either.” Gaara nods in faint understanding. 

Lee laughs, but it’s a strained, weak thing. “Probably not! But you know my family doesn’t have a lot of money- “ 

Gaara hums his agreement.

“- and being a shinobi is a guaranteed income. Well, if you don’t die. Which he won’t. Because she wants me to raise him!”

Everything falls into place. The stuffed animal, the baby-proofing in Lee’s apartment, the parenting books. Gaara looks back down at the book on the floor. If he squints, he can make out the chapter heading: _Developmental Milestones_. Gaara feels his eyes get wide.

“She wants you to raise her child.”

“Well, he’d be my child. I’d adopt him.”

“I see,” Gaara says at length. He gestures to the house around them. “Have you picked out which room you want for the nursery? I would think the room nearest to ours, although that’s on the second floor. If you’d prefer to move down to the first floor, there are several rooms in the East wing that would be suitable- “

“Oh, no!” Lee cuts him off. “Gaara, I wasn’t expecting- I was going to take him back to Konoha and bring him up there. I still have my apartment there, and Gai-sensei promised to help too. I didn’t want to impose.”

Gaara tilts his head inquisitively. “Lee, how long have we been dating?”

“Five years in June,” Lee recites dutifully.

“And you thought you would just … adopt a child, and raise him by yourself, without my being involved at all?”

“Well, I sort of agreed to do it without asking you. And your job is so busy, and so stressful. It just made the most sense.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. You’re a jounin. Who will care for him when you’re on missions?”

“If I raise him in Konoha, there’s Gai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei, now that they’re retired; and Tenten said she could take a few days off per week from her shop; and Sakura and Ino are expecting their firstborn any day now, so they would be natural playmates, I was thinking…” 

“You were thinking you would just give up your whole life in Suna and move back to your hometown, and I would what? Come visit every three months when there’s a meeting? I wouldn’t be involved in yours or your child’s life at all?”

“You have so many obligations already, it just didn’t seem fair…”

“Lee, when were you even going to tell me about this plan?”

Lee winces.

“Um, well, Jazz is due in about 12 weeks, so I was thinking … around then.”

“Are you serious?”

“Y… es?” Lee grates out.

“No, this makes no sense. You’ll stay here, with me, where you belong, and we’ll raise this child together. He would have the most resources, the most opportunities, and be safest here. That way I can take care of him when you’re on missions, and I can make sure he’s well protected.” Gaara crosses his arms over his chest, willing to brook no further argument.

“And when you’re busy? Who will watch over him then?” Lee asks, but his eyes are getting bright. 

“Shikamaru is home all day with his son anyway. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to watch his nephew from time to time. They can all go cloud-watching together, or whatever it is he does with all his free time.”

“Nephew?” Lee says. Tears are starting to gather in the corners of his eyes.

“Of course, I’d adopt him as well.” Gaara replies.

“Gaara, that’s too much to ask, I can’t … we aren’t even legally married yet.”

Gaara considers this for a moment. Until just now, the fact of marriage had never seemed particularly important. He knows he loves Lee, and that Lee loves him, and that neither of them are planning to move on from the other any time soon. Marriage seemed like a point of potentially unnecessary political strife that wasn’t worth the time. But now, if there’s a child to consider, the weight of the decision hangs differently.

“Would you want to? Get married, that is,” Gaara says.

“Are you proposing?” Lee asks. Fat tears are now spilling down his cheeks.

“I suppose I am. I apologize I don’t have a ring. This was all rather unexpected.”

“It’s unexpected for me, too,” Lee says, laughing. He wipes at his eyes.

“So, is that a yes?” Gaara presses.

Lee grins at him. His face is a wet mess and there’s an ink stain on the front of his jumpsuit, but to Gaara, he looks absolutely beautiful. Gaara can’t imagine spending the rest of his life, or raising a child, with anyone else.

“Yes, Gaara,” Lee says. “Yes, of course I’ll marry you.”

“Good,” Gaara says, just as Lee lunges at him and pins him to the floor with a kiss.

“Twelve weeks isn’t much time to plan,” Lee says into Gaara’s mouth. “A wedding and a baby, on top of everything else you have to do. Will you be able to manage it?”

Gaara smiles so broadly that Lee accidentally kisses his teeth. 

“I’ll work something out,” he says. “But first, let’s start with picking a room for the nursery.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in having a prompt fill written for you, [you can prompt me here!](https://ghoste-catte.tumblr.com/tagged/prompt-meme)


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